Former President Bill Clinton says green energy can grow the nation’s economy

Former President Bill Clinton speaks Wednesday while joined by, from left, Tony Thompson, chairman and CEO of Thompson National Properties, Shangri-La Construction President Andy Meyers, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, and President and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council Rick Fedrizzi. Clinton was in Las Vegas for an event to announce the first LEED Gold certified retrofit of a building in Nevada.

Clinton jokes about mayor's showgirl entourage

Former President Bill Clinton joked about Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who spoke before him, for bringing two women from the audience to serve as his showgirl entourage on either side of him.

“If some of us did that, we would be run out of office,” Clinton said, drawing laughter from both Goodman and the small audience in attendance. “Some guys got it and some guys don’t, and the mayor’s got it.”

Former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday pushed for retrofitting aging buildings to make them more energy efficient and promoted alternative sources of energy as a way to create jobs and grow the economy.

Clinton came to Las Vegas to dedicate the retrofitting of a building at 302 E. Carson, a 46-year-old, 11-story office tower in downtown Las Vegas.

It received the state’s first retrofitted building gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, which recognized the improvements for decreasing energy usage by 30 percent and water consumption by 40 percent.

Clinton said studies show a large amount of greenhouse gases that need to be cut can be eliminated simply by being more efficient. In large cities, buildings can account for up to 70 percent of carbon emissions, and older buildings waste massive amounts of energy, he said.

“I believe climate change is a huge problem and we have only scratched the surface of what we have to do,” said Clinton, whose foundation launched the Clinton Climate Initiative to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“I also believe that changing the way we conserve and produce energy is the No. 1 thing we can do in America to get the jobs going again,” he said.

Clinton, who jokingly said he “will come to Las Vegas on the flimsiest of excuses,” said he hoped his presence at the ceremony will encourage other developers to follow suit.

He said retrofitting the office tower owned by Thompson National Properties is an example of the economic benefit of going green.

The project created 250 construction jobs in Las Vegas at a time the national construction unemployment rate is 25 percent — 2.5 times the national unemployment rate as a whole.

“The only way to get the construction unemployment down is to put that industry in the business of making buildings more green,” Clinton said.

Before the collapse on Wall Street, Clinton said, he had five banks agree to commit $1 billion each to finance nationwide retrofits of buildings to make them more efficient. The loans would have been paid back by energy savings.

Clinton said Congress should set up a program similar to what the Small Business Administration does for small business already. A program could give a federal guarantee of a percentage of loans for retrofitting buildings.

Clinton also said the U.S. government should adhere to the most stringent green standards when it constructs new buildings.

Clinton touted subsidies for solar usage in Germany for creating 300,000 jobs and said as many as 2.5 million could be created in the U.S. under a similar program. For every $1 billion invested in such industries as solar and wind, thousands of jobs are created, Clinton said.

“America needs the jobs,” Clinton said. “It needs a way to grow and diversify its economy.”

Nevada would benefit from a continued push of energy alternatives, Clinton said. The state could be close to energy independent within five years, with significant enough growth in solar and wind energy production, Clinton said.

The $11.5 million retrofit was completed in 13 months by Shangri-La Construction as the general contractor. The retrofit included installing new dual-glaze windows to reduce heat transfer into the building and lowering energy bills because more light is allowed into the building.

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning system upgrades are expected to save in excess of $50,000 a year in electricity costs. The plumbing was upgraded to install low-flow and no-flush fixtures to reduce water usage.

The roof was replaced to reduce the amount of heat that enters the building. Seventy five percent of the renovation waste was recycled and reused.

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Thanks Bill Clinton , for balancing the budget. This proves that the democrats are the true fiscal conservatives. If we ever get the economy out of the ditch (paraphrasing the president) we should never let the Republicans drive again. We need green public projects too !

Expensive, unreliable, inefficient 'boutique' energy will take away jobs rather than create them. But of course listening to people who have never created a job that wasn't heavily subsidized by the taxpayer....oh, nevermind.

O'le Newt held up the government for two years over what. You republicans should not moralize with us. Enron,Tarp,the florida no count- sleazy Ensign and Gibbons.You rich people don't have a leg to stand on. Clinton tried to pass a health care bill and then you impeached him. Republicans two wars and a depression, just shut up.

Teabaggers want all Americans to hate Bill Clinton like they do but it's not happenin'. Despite their best efforts to impeach him coming after six straight years and $35 million investigating a land deal, President Clinton left office with a 59% approval rating and a $175 billion surplus.

GW Bush, on the other hand, was a historic failure, a bad dream Americans don't ever want to see again -- witnessed by the fact that he will NEVER be asked to campaign for any sane GOP candidate.Bush left behind a $1.3 trillion deficit, two unfinished mismanaged wars and a broken economy. His approval ratings were 29% after eight years of incompetent leadership.

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Clinton and Bush are living examples of their respective parties. One built a bridge to the 21st century and the other used his time in office destroying it.

It amazes me to see so many ignorant opinions posted on this page. You obviously care too much about politics to see this has NOTHING to do with politics. To inform the ignorant, Sustainable Building is not "boutique". If it was, we would not have BUILDING CODES at Federal, State and City levels. Government offices would not be mandated to be in Sustainable buildings if it were "boutique". I am not sure what your disdain for a President (who didn't run the economy and country into the ground), has to do with an AMAZING project and building concept. Countries around the world have been building this way for hundreds of years. The US is finally realizing the financial incentives and savings from building green. If you don't believe in sustainability, you at least have to have the common sense to see that this is good business with a huge payback that lasts the life cycle of the building and actually extends the life of the building as well. As for jobs, it has been PROVEN statistically that sustainability creates more jobs. This project was the perfect example of that. It's funny that you bring up green energy as no solar or wind power was used on this project. This project reduced it's water use by installing new high efficiency plumbing fixtures. It reduced it's energy use by switching out inefficient equipment. This project received a substantial tax abatement for these savings. Anyone can do this anywhere. It does not cost more to build sustainably and has nothing to do with politics. I suggest you do more research before you start talking about something you obviously know nothing about. This is a huge deal for Las Vegas and the country as well. This is the future of construction.

"As for jobs, it has been PROVEN statistically that sustainability creates more jobs. This project was the perfect example of that. It's funny that you bring up green energy as no solar or wind power was used on this project."*************

Link please for the "job creation" statement. Its funny that the title brings up green energy too.

The title of this article is a bit misleading but the event is significant. Retrofitting our built environment is of great value. Green building and renewable energy are a winning combination for creating a better society. Here are a few thoughts on LEED:

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is simply a tool to help create healthy, efficient, high-performance buildings.

Companies like Shangri-La and Thompson are smart. They are looking at life-cycle operating costs and a triple bottom line reflecting economic, environmental and social return on investment.

There are ample studies on the cost of LEED that illustrate its true value and there are thousands of certified LEED projects that prove it. (ex: http://tinyurl.com/leedcost) In fact, many buildings have achieved LEED certification at no additional cost compared to standard construction alternatives. There are many factors that influence cost, including familiarity with the concept. Contractors who are unfamiliar with LEED often mistakenly inflate their bids to cover the unknown. As the article states, "the cost of green building will come down as it becomes more mainstream. Building codes are already evolving and catching up with LEED certification requirements."

LEED in particular, and green building in general, is mainstream and is transforming the construction industry. It has been embraced at all levels, from small residential builders to the highest strata of corporate decision-makers. In fact, most standard construction projects that are not using LEED (or a system like it) are obsolete before they are even complete, since "building to code" is really just another way of saying "barely legal."

Membership in the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (not a government agency) is open to any company and the LEED rating system is developed by the members. Millions of hours of volunteer work, in the form of thoughtful application of best practices, are embedded in LEED. The real scam is the ongoing practice of antiquated building practices that result in waste and toxic environments.

Tax incentives are often used to accelerate the adoption of beneficial practices but the value of LEED stands on its own.

LOL - the same people screaming about ecomony and spending in relation to the effect on their childrens/grandchildrens future, and they could CARE LESS about the environment! How funny - you guys are idiots, be men and just admit you don't care about them... I'm sick and tired of hearing this nonsense.

You want to put people back to work? You want to diversify the economy? You want to help small business? Green is the way to do it - but of course you don't, seeing as how you keep electing these Republiscum that support BP and Halliburton, yet claim to represent small business interests...

One thing wrong about the Clinton Administration though, as stated in todays huffinton post, is that rotten stinkin Larry Summers and his old boss Robert Rubin. As I write this the Senate will not regulate let alone ban credit-default swaps. We will remain in this Depression/recession until we do ! When Gingrich was alluding to the fact that liberals wouldn't like Clinton if we knew about all his shenanigans was he revering to this ? How can unelected people like Summers remain in office; he is truly a "Shadow elitist".

Just another liberal sucking off the system hyping the green machine; cash in their greedy pockets. This is such a crock and us who work in the industry know who's getting rich, liberals and their environmentalist.

This is another program like they've done with the environmental policies and their liberal lunatic nut cases.

Here is one for you, what do you think the windmills cost prior to Obama spending billions with GE verses the windmills prior to the taxpayers money being spent on the identical windmill?

More than likely it's like the asphalt oil pricing after they passed the infamous stimulus plan, asphalt oils skyrocketed immediately following the "Shovel Ready Projects" or what we call mill and fill projects. For each ton of asphalt produced, foreign oil manufactures made a few more billion while Americans yielded nothing more than a few bucks.

Wake up Americans, liberals don't want Americans to work unless you succumb to their way of thinking, they'll lie, cheat, and steal every chance they get to line their filthy greedy pockets.

In case anybody forgot, Slick Willy signed away American jobs in 1993 (NAFTA). Remember how NAFTA was supposed to boost American jobs and raise the average U.S. wages and the U.S. standard of living? Yeah, look at the economic mess the U.S. is in NOW. I do not know how Slick Willy dares to show his face in public!

We liberals have it better than Clinton had it then. We now have the house and the Senate and what do we have to show for it ? An oil slick, a lame healthcare law, 14% unemployment rate, and no effective financial or Climate change legislation. We need to turn hard left and forget the lunatic fringe on the right.

Anybody still buying "green jobs" fantasies of the far left enviro-whackos?

"As predicted was inevitable, today the Spanish newspaper La Gaceta runs with a full-page article fessing up to the truth about Spain's "green jobs" boondoggle, which happens to be the one naively cited by President Obama no less than eight times as his model for the United States. It is now out there as a bust, a costly disaster that has come undone in Spain to the point that even the Socialists admit it, with the media now in full pursuit."

Wow there sure are alot of comments removed by staff,you can't bag on Clinton, he's the editors buddy. But this green energy wave is as ridiculous as global warming, create jobs? how? oh you mean building the sites. Temporary jobs do not count as jobs folks, ol slick Willy must have had someone tucked in behind the podium as a fringe benefit so he would make the speech.

Love reading all your political correctness and being so polite to one another. Call it like you see it, it's just another liberal scam that Obama dumped our into so when he voted of office in 20132, he has a career path, he's going to become another Al Gore and others who are making billions on another of their lies.. Obama is that stupid, he is using his office to promote something for his own personal gain in 2013.

We're not that stupid to support or fund their latest scare tactics, this is just another example why business leaders suck up to whoever is office, they're in it for the money, Obama is giving our money, and business never says no to profit and when money is free, they're going to climb aboard and adapt to the new business model and use it to their advantage.

Quit being stupid and look at reality, they could call it red, purple, yellow, when it involves free, who cares what they call it. We'll rename it 'CHUCK" and watch the next craze, CHUCK it is!

Rusty- if you can't win a argument make stuff up, just tell us how renewable energy failed in Spain ? just say how ? How can you say something doesn't work went we didn't even try. Drill baby drill clearly gave us dead coal miners and oil slicks.